


Underwear

by agrajag



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dex has BPD, Getting Together, M/M, Sensory Overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 10:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: The next night, he crawled into bed like any other night, but as soon as he was under the covers, he kicked off his underwear and let it lay hidden under the blanket. The following morning, he woke up at 8 with no sign of Dex. He climbed down the ladder without even bothering to pull his underwear back on, grabbed his clothes for the day, and dashed to the bathroom. He continued to do this for the rest of the week and it worked perfectly. He found he was tossing and turning less and feeling much more refreshed in the morning. Well, looked like everything was looking up Derek.Derek likes to sleep naked and after the Dib Flip, he's not quite sure how to handle that and rooming with Dex.





	Underwear

**Author's Note:**

> based on [this](http://bittybakespie.tumblr.com/post/180632137285/we-should-talk-about-how-almost-all-of-nurseys) post
> 
> ngozi made this pointless literally like ten minutes after i finished it and i couldn't edit it until a few days after the notes were posted but i'm still posting this fic and i am starting one that has dex's little bungalow in it so it's sort of a win/win

He wasn't on the same level as Shitty when it came to nudity, but Derek did quite enjoy being in the buff, so to speak. He wasn't about to start walking around the Haus naked when other people, who had not consented to seeing dick while they were trying to do their homework, were around. He was an only child who had parents that tended to be away quite a bit for work, so he _had_ walked around his house as a teenager in his birthday suit, but that was usually only in the dog days of summer when it simply made sense. He wouldn't be joining a nudist colony any time soon, even if for a bit to see what it was like which he was sure was quite interesting. It was just that sometimes it was more comfortable to have nothing rubbing or scratching against his skin. Especially when he was trying to fall asleep. Obviously he wanted to be at maximum comfiness when he was trying to fall asleep. Which had led to him developing the habit of sleeping in the nude. When he was living at home, it was no problem. His parents were completely understanding of his privacy and always knocked and waited for an answer before entering his room, so he could ask for a moment and slip on some of his many pairs of barely used flannel pajama pants. Then, when he had moved into the dorms, his roommate was the one who first asked if he minded that he slept naked, and Derek was laughing as he explained that he was just about to ask the exact same thing. There had been a few cases of one of them accidentally waking up as the other was just getting out of bed and got a little eyeful, but they had known it was bound to happen. It definitely helped that Darren was easy on the eyes. Either way, they had put in to be roommates again for their sophomore year, so Derek didn't even have to think about it until the infamous Dib Flip.

He wasn't getting Lardo's room to himself.

He had to share a room.

_With Dex._

'I have a bad feeling about this,' a voice had said in the back of his head, sounding suspiciously like a young Ewan McGregor.

And it wasn't exactly his sleeping habits that Derek was worrying about. At first, that didn't even cross his mind. He was mostly worrying about his sanity -- and to a lesser extent, Dex's sanity as well. For, although they didn't always get along, he did care for his teammate. He liked to think that they were at least tentative friends, at this point. He knew that Chowder was the glue that held their friendship together. He didn't want to think about what it would be like if they didn't have him there to be their voice of reason when need be. Which, on a side note, Derek knew was totally unfair to Chowder and he always tried to make sure his friend knew how much he appreciated him. For his last birthday, he bought him a new Sharks jersey that he'd been eyeing up for awhile as well as taking him, Farmer, and Dex out for the night. Actually, he platonically loved Chowder so much, Darren had once accused him of having a crush on his friend. To which Derek had responded, "Uh, duh. Who wouldn't?"

Derek was the sort of person to kind of crush on everyone. He crushed on Darren. He crushed on Chowder. He crushed on Bitty. He crushed on Jack. And sadly, he crushed on Dex, as well. He honestly tried not to. When they had met as frogs, all they ever did was argue, and yet they only seemed to make him crush harder. What could he say? He loved a challenge. And living Dex was definitely going to be a challenge. Sure, they could survive a few nights when they had to share a hotel room during away games, but to be living together for the entire school year was a tall order.

They argued about the Dib Flip on and off over text the whole summer. They argued as they were moving in their furniture and clothes. They argued as they (see: Dex did and Derek tried to help) build the bunk bed. They argued the first night when Dex started to complain about Derek's mess and "how could you already have made a mess, Nurse?" They argued the whole first week and the next one and the one after that. It wasn't constant, of course. They had classes for a good part of the day and didn't see each other then, obviously, but they _were_ tentative friends, remember? There were some times when they got along, even when they were cooped up in the room together, working on stressful projects, and with no more pie in sight. But the arguments were plentiful enough that Derek had become a little nervous about certain parts of his routine. He tried to keep his clothes off the floor after that first night. He tried to play his music quietly after Dex had yelled at him for the noise without even taking his eyes off his laptop. (Like, how could he even know Derek was listening to music? He had headphones in!) 

And he tried to sleep in his pajamas.

He lasted about a month before he couldn't take it anymore. The sleep shirt was the first thing to go. He couldn't stand the way the fabric would drag against his chest whenever he would try to turn over. Then around the end of November, he stopped wearing the pajama pants. Even if it was getting colder outside, he started sleeping in his underwear and immediately felt at least ten times better. If Dex had noticed that Derek had begun to wear less and less to bed, he said nothing, which Derek was thankful for. He would hate to have to go back to wearing pajamas. He still would have prefered to be wearing nothing at all, but there was no way he could ask Dex about that. He was, well for lack of a better term for it, a total prude. When Shitty still lived in the Haus, Dex honestly would poke his head in and ask whoever was around if Shitty was a. around as well and b. if he was naked before coming in. When they were in the locker room, he faced his locker the entire time and, once he had his own clothes on, he'd power walk out with his eyes frozen to the ground. Derek couldn't imagine what would happen if he approached him and was like, "Oh, by the way, I love sleeping naked and wish to do so five feet above you? Hope that's alright." His head might implode.

So Derek tried so hard to put up with wearing underwear to bed. He wasn't sure when it started, but after the third time... Well needless to say he gave up. See, he woke up a few times to find that he had wiggled out of his underwear in his sleep. Especially when he was wearing boxers, since it was easier to push those off compared to briefs. Dex hadn't noticed since he got up long before Derek (the weirdo had signed up for a 7 a.m. class because he must love pain) and Derek decided that he had found his solution. The next night, he crawled into bed like any other night, but as soon as he was under the covers, he kicked off his underwear and let it lay hidden under the blanket. The following morning, he woke up at 8 with no sign of Dex. He climbed down the ladder without even bothering to pull his underwear back on, grabbed his clothes for the day, and dashed to the bathroom. He continued to do this for the rest of the week and it worked perfectly. He found he was tossing and turning less and feeling much more refreshed in the morning. Well, looked like everything was looking up Derek.

That was, until Dex started complaining about the mess in their room again. They were sitting at the kitchen table with Tango and Whiskey while Bitty was making some sunny side up eggs for everyone.

"So, looks like the room situation is working out for you two," Tango said innocently.

"As much as it can," Dex said, through gritted teeth, "when your roommate is as messy as this guy."

"Seriously Poindexter?" Derek asked, his mug lifted halfway to his mouth. God, he really did need that caffeine, but he had to deal with this first. "We've already had this discussion. I'm not _that_ messy. I mean, I'm not a neat freak like you, but c'mon. Like, do you see any mess anywhere in our room?"

"I might not see it or smell it, but I can sense it."

Everyone at the table started laughing. Derek could see Bitty was trying his best not to, but a little shake of the shoulders gave him away. He recuperated fast, however, and started dishing the eggs onto plates and started on the toast.

"Are you psychic?" Tango asked Dex, and Derek wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. Tango, as much as he had some trouble understanding social cues, actually was a bit of a sarcastic little shit when he wanted to be. The whole team was still learning to tell the difference.

"No, Tango, I'm not psychic," Dex answered, surprisingly calm. He picked up his own mug and drained half of it, and Derek was amazed he didn't burn his tongue. "I'm telling you guys, though, I can just _tell_. It's there. I don't know why, but I know."

"Sounds like someone's mad they're not psychic," Derek teased. He had to stand up and back away so he could peacefully drink his own coffee because Dex had started balling up bits of napkin to toss at him.

Teasing Dex was what Derek did best, but he had to resort to teasing now so that no one could see how much he was freaking out. How Dex found out about the fact that he was sleeping naked? And by doing so, he may have accumulated a little mountain of underwear at the foot of his bed? He just hadn't found a good time to clean it up without Dex noticing, and the last thing he wanted was to come clean about what he'd been doing. Because than Dex would yell at him, and he'd have to go back to sleeping in pajamas and being a tired mess. He had just finally gotten rid of the bags under his eyes, and no amount of face mask nights with Chowder and Farmer would help much if he wasn't getting a decent night's sleep. No, he had to get rid of all evidence of what he'd been doing as soon as possible and then had to make sure to grab his underwear each morning from then on out.

Except, he never got a chance after that. Dex always seemed to be in the room when Derek wasn't in class. He eventually decided that he had to do the deed while Dex was there, but then Dex always seemed to be interested in talking to Derek, so he couldn't whisk it away when Dex wasn't paying attention. Derek couldn't be that upset about it, though, because Dex was _talking_ to him. They weren't arguing. He still gave Derek a look every once in awhile, as if to say, 'I can still sense your mess in this room, Nurse.' Derek was starting to feel guilty about it. No, that was a lie. He had felt guilty about it the entire time, basically, because it _was_ a little weird to hide the fact that you sleep in the nude from your roommate -- especially in the way that Derek had been. Now, however, he felt eve more guilty because he and Dex were getting along. Like, actually getting along. It was getting frustrating. One night, Derek decided he couldn't take it anymore and, instead of discreetly pushing his underwear down to join the pile, he took them off and haphazardly threw them across the room, hoping that Dex would find them and question him about it. It just proved that Dex certainly _wasn't_ psychic because he never did find them and, in defeat, Derek never picked them up.

Then, It happened. Dex found the moldy pie under the bed and, in a craze, built a glorified hobbit hole in their room. Which, Derek couldn't lie, was mad cute. Now he wanted one. He supposed that wouldn't be practical on the top bunk, but if he had one as well, he would feel less guilty about sleeping naked while Dex was in the room. Before he could even suggest Dex helping him build a hobbit hole for himself, though, Dex was storming out of the room and from downstairs, Derek could hear him shouting something about him winning. The next day, all of Dex's stuff had been moved into the basement. Everything except for the bunk bed. Derek snuck into the kitchen to pick up a piece of blueberry pie, holed himself up in the bottom bunk, even though it was pretty uncomfortable without the mattress, and wondered about why he wasn't feeling happy that he finally had the room to himself when he should have been ecstatic.

"I'm not going to say anything," Chowder said when Derek had finally found his way to his room. Chowder was the one to go to when anyone on the team need to talk out feelings.

"Uh, wow. Way to wound me C," Derek said before taking another bite of pie. He was on his second piece when he honestly shouldn't have had the first. "Have you ever turned any of us away before when we came to you for help? Rude."

"Well, actually, yes." He turned around for a moment to type a few things on his laptop before continuing. "I'm not getting involved in this, though, because while I love everyone on the team, you and Dex are my two best friends and I'm not getting between you two. I'm sure you must have noticed how I haven't really said anything while you two have been biting each other's heads off since the start of the year."

"We haven't been biting each other's heads off. While we do still argue, we've actually been getting along quite well," Derek pointed out. "I honestly thought that maybe, given some more time, me and Dex would be... we'd be close."

Chowder raised an eyebrow before motioning for Derek to hand over his pie. Derek did so without question because he knew he shouldn't still be eating. He watched as Chowder raised the fork up to his mouth and paused. "And this is exactly why I'm not getting involved," he said and then finally took a bite.

"I have no idea what you mean by that."

"You and Dex need to talk, man. And I don't just mean about this whole Dex moving into the basement nonsense. You two just need to talk."

"Um, okay," Derek said. He was a little confused. Chowder wasn't exactly one to be cryptic. "Thanks, C. I'll talk to him."

"I mean now. Go. Get out of my room." Chowder started to push Derek off his bed, though he wasn't being completely serious. "I _do_ have coding to do. So I would appreciate some quiet, at least, if you plan to stay in here. If you want to talk to him now, though... Well, that's up to you."

"No, you're right. Thanks again. For lending an ear. Even if I kinda put you in an awkward position." Derek patted Chowder on the back before he let himself out of the room. He made his way downstairs before pausing at the door leading to the basement. He had to give himself a mental pep talk before he had the courage to open it. He poked his head in and looked around hoping to see if Dex was there, but the basement _had_ always been too dark. Dex was going to have to buy a bunch of lamps if he planned to stay there. Derek started walking down the stairs slowly and called out so he didn't startle Dex if he was there. "Hey man. You in?"

His only answer was a quiet hum followed by the sound of keys clacking.

"How's it hangin'?" he asked once he reached the bottom stair.

"It's not the 90's, Nurse," Dex quipped back, but there was no real bite to it. "And to answer your question, what's hanging is Ollie and Wicks laundry. I can't move anywhere."

"Yeah, I'm starting to see that." Derek pushed a few short sleeve button up shirts to the side so he could make his way over to Dex. He was sitting on a chair that he must have salvaged from the alleyway. It was missing a leg, though it looked like he had successfully replaced it with a baseball bat. He was typing away on his laptop, but hardly as fast as Derek knew he could. It was honestly a very depressing scene. It was bumming Derek out. "But I don't care about their laundry. How are _you_ hangin'?"

Dex laughed softly out of his nose.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm feeling regretful?"

"You? Admit you made a mistake? Never," Derek said, half jokingly.

"I hate how stubborn I am," Dex confessed, as if Derek hadn't spoke. It was so quiet, Derek almost didn't hear it over the noise of the dryer. "Why can't I peacefully live with another person?"

"I mean, you got along with your roommate in the dorms. We know what the real issue is here."

 _Me. The issue is me._ He felt relieved, finally admitting it, even if it was simply to himself. It hurt, knowing that Dex couldn't stand him, but it also felt good to admit the root of the problem.

"No," Dex said, surprising Derek. "I didn't get along with him either." He looked up from his laptop for the first time since Derek entered the basement, and he could see that his eyes were bloodshot. There was no way it could have been from staring at the screen alone. "I lied to you guys. Tried not to fight with him when any of you were around. I didn't need anyone to have yet another reason to hate me."

"No one hates you," Derek said softly, kneeling down and laying a comforting hand on Dex's thigh. Because even if Dex hated him, he still couldn't bring himself to hate Dex. He disliked him a lot of the time, but no.

"Yes. _You_ do. Or you should, at least. I'm a total asshole to you. Like, I don't even want to be, but it's like I can't stop. I'll even be like, 'Oh, tell Nurse that that shirt looks good on him,' but then what comes out is, 'That shirt looks like the color of puke' or something."

"I remember that one. That wasn't _that_ mean," Derek said, hoping to reassure Dex. "Anyway, that's a start to doing better. Now you just gotta think about how what you're going to say will hurt you and whoever you're talking to. You can also apologize, by the way. But only if you mean it."

"I do," Dex said quickly. "I mean it. I am so sorry."

"You are forgiven," Derek said as he pushed himself back up into a standing position. "Well, mostly. We _do_ have some things we still need to work out." Dex nodded in agreement. "But first things first, you could move back into our room."

"Our room," Dex said wistfully. "Yeah, I'd like that. The basement isn't exactly... comfortable."

Derek laughed.

"I can't imagine it would work for a neat freak like you."

"No, not really," Dex said, shaking his head. "Ollie and Wicks come through and messed up everything. Not to mention the fact that everyone would be walking through pretty regularly just to do laundry. So I would be putting everything back over and over again. No, I think I'd go crazy."

"Well, in our room, you only have to worry about me. And I've already cleaned up all the laundry at the foot of my bed. Must be better than this."

"I knew it! I could sense it!" Dex exclaimed. "Wait. Why did you have laundry at the foot of your bed?"

"It's, uh, a long story. I'll tell you all about it while we unpack your stuff, how about that?"

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/

So, it was a start. Dex moved his things back into their room, he started meeting with the campus counselor every week, and it turned out he wasn't a prude.

Derek had come clean -- literally and figuratively -- as they had set Dex's mattress back into his hobbit hole.

"And that's why I had a pile of laundry the size of a small mountain at the foot of my bed," Derek had said, as he finished up his explanation.

"Is that all?" Dex had asked, sticking his head through the door to his bunk. "You could have just told me. I'd rather you just go to bed normally and not throw dirty laundry everywhere."

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable," Derek had said, his voice sounding far away. He couldn't believe it was that easy.

"Well, thank you for... thinking of me. And I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable. That you couldn't dress, or well not dress, the way you wanted in your own space." Dex's words had sounded slightly forced, but Derek could tell he was sincere.

It took some time. They did have to find a new nightly schedule that worked for them. Derek tended to go to bed later than Dex. However, Dex had trouble falling asleep at times and would still be awake when Derek was getting ready for bed and would accidentally end up getting quite an eyeful. Which, another side note, he never seemed flustered in a 'oh, ew, I just saw my gross roommate naked' way, but more like a 'oh, damn, I just saw my hot roommate naked' way. And now wasn't _that_ interesting. They made it work, though, after a few slips here and there.

And Derek couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. He could hang out with his two best friends and not worry about the night devolving into a fight. Dex still had a lot to work on, but he definitely seemed happier, too. There was the fact that he and Derek were getting along better than ever, both off and on the ice, but that was only the beginning. Sure, he had been hanging out with Bitty in the kitchen the last year, but now Derek noticed they'd have study dates at Annie's and sometimes even went out a few nights during the week. He didn't get as overwhelmed with the tadpoles as he used to and he was acting almost like a role model to the waffles.

"What do you like about it?" Dex randomly asked one afternoon. He was at the desk, idly filling out a worksheet for one of his classes. Derek was sprawled on the floor pretending he was brain storming, but in all honesty, he was starting to doze off. "Sleeping... the way you sleep?"

"You can say 'naked.' It won't kill you," he teased. "And I don't know how to explain it, really. Sometimes it's just really annoying to have something rubbing against me, ya know?"

"Oh yeah, I was actually talking to Dr. Ho about that. He called it sensory something or other. Said that's what probably happens sometimes with me. Like when I get angry when the guys touch me. 'Cause it kinda feels like it burns."

"Yeah, like that, sort of." Derek nodded his head, hair scratching against the floorboard. "Though it's more like... pins and needles for me."

"And it really only bothers you at night?" Dex asked and Derek shrugged. 

"Yeah, I guess."

"I wish my stuff only bothered me at night."

"Dude, it's not like I don't have to deal with shit during the day," Derek said. Well, more like snapped. He didn't mean to get angry, but it frustrated him how ignorant Dex could be. But then he realized that quick jump to immediately angry was what Dex had to deal with on a daily basis. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Like, I've got my fair share of shit that gets to me during the day. It's just my shit manifests differently than yours. You get angry and I..." _Freak out._ "I keep it inside. Turn it into words."

"That's not keeping it inside then," Dex joked before turning serious. "Sorry... for assuming. I'm still learning. And I thought... you know this stuff better than I do so..."

"You'd ask me about sleeping naked? Because somehow that has to do with your anger?" Derek asked, raising his eyebrow. He was no longer on the edge of sleep. Dex had captured his full attention.

Dex shrugged.

"I dunno. I thought maybe if it helped you, it might help me too."

"Man, sounds like you're trying to get naked with me."

"I mean, I'm not opposed to that," Dex said completely nonchalant and Derek was pretty sure time had frozen in their room. Dex had stopped writing on the worksheet in front of him, Derek lay on the floor as still as the dead, and it had gotten so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "I mean, obviously we don't have to skip right to that. Actually, God, I did that wrong. Dr. Ho told me to do it seriously, and here I went and fucked it up."

"Do what?" Derek somehow managed to ask around the lump in his throat. "Ask me to sleep with your or admit you like guys in the first place?"

"Uh, both? I mean, I haven't really talked to him about you specifically, but I have talked about coming out. He and Bitty have been helping me with it."

"Oh. Chill." Derek didn't mean to let his jealously show (of course Dex woudl tell Bitty or Chowder first because that just made sense) but Dex was still able to tell.

"Don't feel bad. I would have told you and C first, but I still needed a bit of a push. Bitty's been taking me to Samwell's GSA meetings. It's been super helpful."

So _that's_ where they had been going several nights a week.

"Oh. Well, I'm happy for you. And if you guys don't mind. I think it'd be good for me to go, too. I could tag along sometime."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course," Dex said quickly. "Though that doesn't count as a date, Nurse, if that's what you're thinking. I love Bitty, but I'm not having him third wheel our first date."

Derek pushed himself up onto his elbow so he could properly look at Dex. Dex who was smiling down at him smugly.

"Look at you. Mr. Confident. Alright, William. I suppose we could go on a date sometime. I'll totally pick something fun but chill."

"I hate you," Dex said, but he was still smiling.

"I hate you more," Derek replied, but he was smiling even brighter.

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/

Derek was sad to see the hobbit hole go, but he was happy to move their queen size bed into their room. 


End file.
